Life Drags On
by xSplenda8
Summary: The image she saw as she walked into the living room was one that touched her heart. She saw him sleeping on the couch, muted TV, with his arms wrapped securely around his nephew who was also sleeping soundly. One-Shot.


**Disclaimer: Burn Notice and any characters associated with the show do not belong to me in any way, shape, or form.**

**Spoiler Alert – For those of you that have not seen the later part of season 6.**

**This is set post season 6. I took some liberty with Charlie's age. I know he should only be about a year to 18 months in the show. In this fic he's three going on four. Let's just all pretend that he was born in late season 2. Anyways, enjoy.**

Life Drags On

Michael was staring at the pictures of him and Fiona on his nightstand. It's been nine weeks since he broke her heart. He knew that accepting the deal would upset her, but he wasn't expecting a reaction like that. He though she would yell and scream and throw punches. He was not expecting her to break down in front of everybody like that. She refused to let him touch her and told the guards that she didn't want to be there. They took her back to her room, and later to a hotel in Coral Gables that Michael had ordered for her. He had broken her heart, and he knew it. He should have known that he could only push her so far before she broke.

A week after that, she came home. Home was now a small apartment that overlooked the beach. Michael had given her guards a letter including the address and a key with the instructions to give it to her. In all honesty, he wasn't expecting her. He remembered the day like it happened just hours ago.

"_Jesse, I'm not in the mood right now," Michael sighed into the phone. "I'm sure Sam would love to go with you. That used to be his favorite bar before I got him kicked out. I'm sure they've forgotten a'll about it by now."_

"_Mike you can't just sit around there all day. If she wants to come, she will. And she won't leave just cuz you're not there."_

"_I know. I just…" Michael heard somebody fiddling with the lock. He lifted his gun off the table and pointed at the door._

"_Mike?" Jesse called though the phone. Michael ignored him._

_Fiona opened the door and walked inside, not hesitating upon seeing the gun pointed to her. "Fi…" Michael whispered at the sight of her. He quickly lowered his weapon, said goodbye to Jesse, and hung up the phone without waiting for a reply._

"_If I had known that you would be up in arms, I would have knocked." She walked up to the counter where he was sitting and pulled him into an embrace._

She came back, but things weren't the same. She came and went as she pleased, often coming in at late hours. She never mentioned what happened, he always brought it up. That wasn't the Fiona he knew. She was distant, and she rarely slept in the same bed as him. He was always the first to go down; and instead of joining him, she opted for the spare room or the couch. It hurt him, but he knew it was hurting her more.

He was rolling through his memories when he heard a knock at the front door. He was expecting his mother or Jesse. Definitely not who he saw starting back at him. It was Ruth, carrying a sleeping Charlie on her shoulder. He knew that she had moved back in town two weeks before Nate died, but he hadn't seen her until the funeral, and not very many times since then.

"Ruth." He said in a perplexed tone.

"Hi, Michael. Can I come in?"

"Of course," he said as he moved over to let her inside.

"Ruth, what are you doing here?"

"Your mom gave me the address. The two of us were going to go out tonight. I've been trying to see more of her lately, I know that she loves to see Charlie. We were just going to have a girls night. I was hoping would could take Charlie. Ever since what happened to Nate… I don't like leaving being away from him, and I know he'll be safe with you and Fiona. Please Michael."

"Yeah of course, Ruth. What time are you going to be back?"

"We were planning on staying out late. I was hoping I could stop by in the morning to pick him up."

"That's fine."

"Where is Fiona anyway?" she said as she passed over the sleeping toddler into his arms.

"She's at a business meeting right now. She'll be home later."

Ruth stroked the toddler's curly hair to rouse him from his sleep. "Charlie, mommy's leaving now. You're with Uncle Mike, okay?"

"Bye mommy." The toddler said before relaxing into Michael's chest and succumbing back to his slumber.

"Thank you so much, Michael. I'll see you tomorrow," Ruth said as she hugged him and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "I'll see you tomorrow morning."

"Bye, Ruth." The door closed quietly behind her and he went to lock it.

Michael walked into the spare room and lay his nephew down on the bed before he walked into the kitchen and studied some files.

* * *

It was almost four in the afternoon when Michael heard noise coming from the room where he left Charlie. It had been an hour and a half since Ruth dropped him off and went to pick up his mother.

Michael walked into the room to see the young boy sitting up, staring at him expectantly. "Uncle Mike," he said on a yawn and lifted his arms to be picked up.

Michael complied and brought him into the kitchen. He open the fridge and pulled out a yogurt. "Hungry?" he asked the boy as he sat him down in one of the chairs.

Charlie simply nodded and grabbed the yogurt from his uncle and pulled the tab open. Michael retrieved a spoon from the drawer and placed it on the table next to his nephew before going into the living room and switching on the TV.

A few minutes later, Michael heard the patter of feet before he saw Charlie pulling himself on the couch to join his uncle. That lasted all of two minutes before he hoped off and went to stare at the pictures on the wall.

Michael saw him staring at one picture in particular for a few minutes. When he moved to touch the picture, Michael got up to see which one it was. It was a picture of him and Nate from two years ago. Michael placed his hand on his nephew's head and he looked up at him before dropping his hand from the wall. He didn't say anything, which Michael thought was odd. He figured he would have some questions about his father. It had been almost a year. But then again, Charlie had never been one to talk much. Michael figured that was odd too for a kid his age, but he wasn't about to force the kid to talk to him.

Then Charlie moved over to a picture of Michael and Fi. It was the one that hung on his mother's wall near the kitchen. "Where's Auntie Fi?" he asked as he touched her face on the frame.

"Work," Michael answered simply.

Charlie moved back over to the couch and put his eyes back on the TV. He didn't ask to change the channel, he just stared at it. Michael knew he wasn't really watching. He went over to join his nephew; he figured he might as well pretend to watch TV with him. He relaxed and leaned against the armrest with his torso facing the opposite end of the couch while his eyes were on the television.

A few minutes later, Michael felt something on his legs and looked down to see Charlie making his way up to Michael. The toddler crawled up his uncle's legs and curled into his chest. Michael naturally put his arms around him and settled into a comfortable embrace.

"Why are you sad?" Charlie asked as he looked into his uncle's eyes expectantly.

There was no use lying to him, so Michael told him the truth. "Fi and are having some problems." He sighed and paused for a minute. "I messed up Charlie, and I hurt her feelings…really badly."

Charlie thought about the statement for a minute before saying, "You should fix it." Michael couldn't help but smile at the statement's simplicity. If only things were that simple.

"Uncle Mike…" Charlie whispered, "I miss Daddy." Michael looked down at his nephew. He looked away before Michael could meet his eyes and pulled his thumb into his mouth.

"I know Charlie. That's okay, I miss him too." A tear rolled down Michael's cheek that he hoped his nephew wouldn't see.

His nephew breathed into his chest for a minute before speaking again. "Tell me stories about him."

Michael though for a minute, thinking which to start with before he began. "Well there was the time he stole my BB gun…" Michael started before telling him about the incident when Michael was only seven years old. Michael spent the next two hours telling Charlie all about his father. He managed to get laughs out of the kid; but most of the time he was just silent, listening.

Charlie fell asleep on his uncle's chest as they both lay on the couch. Michael left him there; he didn't want to disturb him. Soon enough, he himself drifted off with his arms securing his nephew to his chest.

* * *

Fiona inserted her key into lock as she made her way into the apartment. She spent the day at the mall browsing, not buying. She came home planning to have a talk with Michael. She was ready to move on. She knew that he was hurting just like her; and she knew the quicker they moved on, the quicker they could get back to some sense of normality.

The image she saw as she walked into the living room was one that touched her heart. She expected to see Michel eating a yogurt while looking though files for work. Instead, she saw him sleeping on the couch, muted TV, with his arms wrapped securely around his nephew who was also sleeping soundly. She didn't know why the boy was there, but she figured she'd find out later.

She put her stuff down on the counter and made her way over to them. She put her hand in Michael's hair and caressed it until he opened his eyes. He smiled and greeted her softly as not to wake Charlie.

She saw the tear stains on his face as well as Charlie's. She'd have to ask him about it later. She pecked his lips and laid one of her hand on top of his. "Come to bed, Michael," she whispered.

His eyes lit with a hint of hope that she was beginning to forgive him. He carefully sat up and stood to his feet all while keeping Charlie pinned to his chest.

Fi expected him to put Charlie in the spare room, but instead he walked straight towards their bedroom. Something must have happened. "I'll be there in a minute," she called after him and watched him turn to flash a small smile before he disappeared inside.

She locked to door, shut off the TV, and made her way into the bedroom. Michael was lying down with Charlie on top of him as they were on the couch. Only now, one arm was out at his side. Fi quickly changed and moved into bed next to him. She curled into his side and draped her arm around him and the toddler. A few moments passed before he built up the confidence to wrap his spare arm around her and held her to himself.

A few minutes passed as they listened to each other's deep breathing. "He misses Nate, Fi." He whispered. "It's not fair for him…"

Fiona kissed his neck whispered back. "I know Michael. I know…"

He didn't need any more words. He relaxed and listened to her as she fell asleep. Michael drifted off not long after.

Maybe things actually would work out for them...


End file.
